When downloading various software packages, and executables for Windows, I always see two different types of executables to download. One just says ...32-bit and the other always says ...amd64. I know this has nothing to do with AMD, but it is referring to 64-bit operating systems, so why is this still a norm? Even large companies like Google and Ubuntu have packages set up like this.
Thanks for any insight!
~Carpetfizz
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The 64-bit extension for 80×86 processors (nowadays called just x86) was invented by AMD.
Back then Intel was betting on the Itanium line for servers and even went on record saying that “64 bits won’t be needed on the desktop anytime soon”.
AMD, on the other hand, was producing the successful Athlon line, which for a short while was much faster and cheaper than Xeon chips. The 64 bit capability while retaining current software compatibility put AMD back on the map. Intel had to quickly license the 64 bit extensions, so now it could be said that Intel chips are AMD-compatible, and not the other way around…
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